Mercedes E550 – Sporty!

Each
project we do is defined / catered to each individual customer and
their objectives and desires. For this customer, he wanted to spice up
his Mercedes E550. Better looks, better power, better styling, better
exhaust sound and tone, better handling. That just about covers all the
bases. This is not meant to be an agressive, over the top, upgrade,
but the refinement of the car to make it look, sound, feel, and perform
in a sportier manor. The base Mercedes does not illicit much emotional
response, either to look at, drive, or listen too. We mean to change
all that.

Unlike some requests we get, the good news here is that the Mercedes E550 offers a great platform to start with.

TUNE / SOFTWARE

Tunes
and software upgrades are most effective when we are dealing with some
form of “forced induction”. And that is just what this Mercedes has,
and it has known “head room” for tuning upgrades. There are two primary
tuners out there for Mercedes (Weistec and Renntech). We choose to go
with the Weistec upgrades for this car, as they offered a bigger
diversity of engine upgrade options.

Weistec
offers a software upgrade that works with CA 91 Octane fuel, and
produces some amazing results: 540 HP, 715# Torque. The upgrade is a
traditional “flash” of the core ECU / DME software, and also requires
the spark plugs to be upgraded (colder temperature range spark plugs). A
few additional benefits are the eliminated the top speed limiter, and
improved throttle response.

CHARGE PIPE / BLOW OFF VALVE

One
might think about the intake, but most OEM intakes these days flow
well, are CA legal, and often are a true “cold air intake”. All of the
above is true for this Mercedes. So, we looked to other parts of the
intake system that could be optimized. One of those is the “charge
pipe” and either “blow off valve” or “recirculation / anti-surge valve”,
depending on how the engine was designed. While the engine compartment
is very nice looking, and very densely packaged, this was an area that
could benefit from an upgrade. Weistec offers this as part of their
engine performance solutions, and not only that, but it looks awesome in
the engine bay. Here is the stock setup before upgrades:

Here
are the parts to add slightly larger intake tubes, and to add the “blow
off” valve (the Mercedes stock engine does not have a blow off valve,
which inhibits the ability of the turbo to stay spining without back
pressure when the throttle is closed).

Strong,
reliable, and easy to install. The blow off valve works off engine
vacuum, which is activated when the throttle is closed. Here is the new
system fully installed (but with some of the engine vanity covers still
off):

And a closer view of the vacuum / blow off valve area.

EXHAUST

If
you are going to add to the engine power, then, the exhaust needs to be
dealt with as well. Not only from a performance stand point, but from a
sound perspective. You want to hear the car….

The stock
Mercedes is very quiet, very subdued….not befitting a twin turbo’d
engine with 540HP. The main issue with the stock exhaust is the rear
mufflers. Big, large, heavy, and quiet. Those must go. Since this is a
turbo car, the turbos and the catalytic convertors already tone the
exhaust sound way down, both making it quiet, as well as muting the
tone. So, out goes the rear mufflers, replaced with a set of Renntech
rear mufflers (much smaller, flow great, perfect fitment, and a much
better tone).

But,
even that is not enough. Much like we do to many other turbo based
cars, there is a center resonator in the exhaust system, and we cut that
out, and straight pipe that section. Now you can hear the engine, and
it’s not loud, not obtrusive, but it sings to you.

One
of the things that happens in an upgrade process, is that one upgrade
often drives the next piece of the solution. If we now have an engine
with more power, and better acceleration and top speed, then we need to
think about the brakes. What should be do there? What should we do, or
what can we do? Hmmm…I think the only proper thing to do is to go
big…big brake kit that is. And since we want this to look completely
integrated, well conceived, as if the factory had done the right thing
from the start, then we need to go big front and rear.

BRAKES

If
we want to stay with the factory look approach, then the only choice is
BREMBO. They offer a complete kit for this Mercedes, and an amazing
kit it is. Just like all Brembo BBK (Big Brake Kits), it upgrades the
rotors to a 2-piece, floating rotor design, the fronts using their newer
“Type 3” slotted rotors, while the back uses the older “Type 1” slotted
rotors. Calipers are bigger, stronger, greater surface area, longer
mment arm for the braking center of pressure…everything you would want
in an upgraded caliper. Plus, they look killer. New stainless steel
lines, sport brake pads (better bite, and 50% less brake dust).
Balanced braking efficiency front and rear, so works perfect with the
stock ABS and traction control systems.

Here is a comparison of the old, original front brake, to the new Brembo BBK front brake system.

The look, the performance, the braking feel, the confidence….just what we wanted.

As
we mentioned, often one step drives another. We knew from the start
that we wanted to do the Brembo brakes, and to ensure proper fitmnet
inside the wheel, we had to know what wheel we were going to go with.
Just like all the other decisions, the customer wanted the best product
available. If you ask us what the best possible wheels are, that is
easy, HRE Wheels. Then that decides it, HRE it is.

WHEELS

Everything
you would want in a wheel is available from HRE. Design, style, style
options, fitment (so we can also get wider tires in the stock,
unmodified wheel wells….and experience with these cars from other
projects we have done, has shown that there is tight fitment in the rear
wheel well…but the HRE’s fit perfect), color, strong, light
weight…but most of all, they just look amazing.

Front HRE wheels w the new Brembo BBK installed –

Rear HRE wheel w the new Brembo BBK installed –

Now,
there are a lot of directions we could go with the suspension. But,
this is not a hard core race car, this is meant to be the AMG type
upgrade as if it came from the factory. The handling is fine therefore,
but the ride height is not.

SUSPENSION

There
are so many ways to go on the suspension, but, we don’t need
“coil-overs”. That would not be staying consistent with the objectives
and needs of this project. We don’t need to change or upgrade the
suspension bushings, the control arm bushings, the sub-frame bushings,
the sway bars….we just want to firm up the ride slightly, and lower
the ride height. The easy answer then is to install sport springs. For
the Euro cars, we prefer the H&R sport springs for street cars.
While they don’t publish their spring rates, we have tested the springs
from H&R and others, and find their choice to be a better result for
street cars.

To
truly make this a complete “project”…we can’t ignore the interior of
the car. We have done little touches to the outside, along with the
major visible exterior upgrades (wheels, brakes, trim, window tint), but
we want a complete solution. Given the theme and approach, the
interior was too plain, and didn’t match the theme of “sporty”…..so,
the trim inside needed to be upgraded as well.

INTERIOR TRIM

Given
the colors of the car, wheels, brakes, and exterior paint color, the
best solution was to introduce Carbon Fiber trim to the interior.

The
NET….success. As the customer stated, this is JUST THE WAY I wanted
the car to be from the factory. It works in every way.